Beanbags are wonderful inventions. They make comfortable if kitschy furniture, are a simple toy useful for early childhood development, and of course, are a key component of the addictive but disturbingly named game of cornhole.

One thing beanbags are decidedly not appropriate for is being the primary armament of elite military and police agencies, a self-evident fact to almost everyone.

Late on the night of December 14, an elite tactical unit of the U.S. Border Patrol known as “BORTAC” was working the Peck Canyon, northwest of Nogales. They were hunting a “rip crew” suspected to be operating in the area. A rip crew is a predatory criminal gang that targets drug couriers and illegals being smuggled over the border. They ambush their victims, robbing and assaulting them for their drugs or few possessions, supposing their criminal victims will never report their crimes to authorities.

Using night vision equipment, the BORTAC team spotted five men moving through the Canyon, two of whom were carrying rifles. At least one of the officers identified the men and yelled at them to drop their weapons. Then things went bad:

When the suspected aliens did not drop their weapons, two Border Patrol agents deployed “less than lethal” beanbags at the suspected aliens. At this time, at least one of the suspected aliens fired at the Border Patrol agents. Two Border Patrol agents returned fire, one with his long gun and one with his pistol.

Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot with one bullet and died shortly after. One of the suspected illegal aliens, later identified as Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, was also shot.

Yes, you read that correctly. Faced with men using rifles, Border Patrol agents used beanbags. Why? Because of an alleged agency policy that requires engaging armed men with beanbag rounds.

Agency doctrine that all but assured the eventual death of a federal agent. BORTAC agent Brian Terry just happened to be that first unfortunate victim of a policy developed as a combination of bureaucratic ineptitude and feel-good policing mandated by those far from the front line of America’s Third War.

The technology of beanbag rounds are not to blame. Beanbag rounds have been around for a number of years as one of the first iterations of “less lethal” weapons designed to force a criminal suspect’s compliance through the assertion of concussive force. They are fired from designated shotguns that are usually brightly colored so they won’t be confused with shotguns loaded with buckshot or slugs. A shot-filled sock-like projectile is fired at a low velocity of several hundred feet-per-second to deliver a stunning, momentarily incapacitating blow to allow officers to rush in and physically control an uncooperative suspect.

Doctrine has long been that less-lethals are only to be used in very prescribed situations where the subject is deemed to be a threat to themselves or others, but is not an immediately direct lethal threat. A good example would be a combative person thought to be under the influence of drugs that does not allow officers to approach within taser range. The beanbag shells themselves have very narrow operating windows or ranges: lower velocity shells are to be used from 5-20 yards, while higher velocity variants of varying designs are tailored to ranges out to 40 yards.

There is one very important caveat to using less-lethal weapons. The standard doctrine for these less-lethal weapons is that they are only to be used in situations where the suspects are not armed with deadly weapons of their own.

The reason is obvious. Filled with less-lethal shells, a shotgun is still unmistakably a shotgun, and when the trigger is pulled, a shotgun blast is heard, a flash and puff of smoke is seen and heard, and the weapon recoils. Any person carrying a weapon and not immediately incapacitated by the less-lethal cartridge itself is likely to judge that their life is in danger and immediately return fire with their own far more lethal firearms.

This confusion was compounded by the fact that the event happened close to midnight; there was absolutely no way for the rip crew to verify they were actually facing off against law enforcement officers and not another rip crew. All they knew is that they were yelled at by men who identified themselves as police, and then those men started shooting at them.

It’s a matter of training. It’s a matter of common sense.

And it’s a matter of near criminal proportions that both long-held and carefully researched doctrine about the use of force was thrown out the window in favor of what was clearly a bureaucratic initiative made by someone hoping to mitigate the political fallout that might occur if Border Patrol agents shot a criminal alien and either killed or seriously wounded him or her.

Border Patrol officials lied at least once about the order to use beanbags in what appears to be an obvious attempt to cover up a lethally poor policy.

Was the policy a result of uniformed agents shooting and killing a rock-throwing Mexican teen in June of 2010? Was it the result of the generally apathetic to hostile feelings towards border security from DHS appointees and the White House itself?

The only appropriate responses are an immediate revocation of the policy before it leads to the death of other Border Patrol agents and an investigation into how the policy came into being and into who was responsible for trying to cover it up and why.

42 Comments, 29 Threads

1.
Forgotten Man

I would hope who ever decided to send law enforcement officers out at night in a rural area a long way from help mans up and takes responsibility for this dumb order. I cannot believe anyone could think this was a good idea.
The rest of the story is that he was kill by a weapon that was purchased by a straw buyer and the ATF allowed these weapons to be delivered to the end user. Again whoever made this decision needs to man up and take the heat. In this case there is a real possibility that State and Federal laws were violated. Fro the cost of the Department of Homeland Security it should be damn near perfect.
With unemployment at almost 9% the vacancies should be quickly filled with smarter people that KNOW what a bad decision looks like, and resist the temptation to kiss up to the real idiots in Washington,DC.

Thank you for bringing up the ATF role in this crime. Directed by the DOJ, they have letting thousands of assault rifles “walk” across the border; one of which was used in the killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

How Racists is the Obama admin going to get? Shooting Beaners with Bean Bags. OMG!!!
On a serious note the person that passed the ruling down that those in charge of the ATF GunRunner program that provided the AK 47 to the drug cartel that was used to kill this agent should be tried as accomplices.

It is reported that over 1,000 weapons that the ATF deliberately released to Mexico in a “Sting” operation, are unaccounted for. Two of the weapons were abandoned at the murder site of the Border Patrol officer, but the reports are unclear that either were used in the murder. It would be of no solace that it was one of the other thousand.

This is another ATF “Show Time” fiasco, and the top people in ATF and Justice Dept should be liable not only for the Border Patrol death but for all innocent Mexicans who were also killed or wounded with any of the other thousand, or more, unsecured ATF guns floating around Mexico.

When will the lunacy and run-away government ambitions represented by the ATF be stopped?

There is something terribly wrong with this article. The real danger is we have had very weak presidents in office who cannot give the order to shoot to kill in the defense of our southern border.

As Americans we need the diplomatic immunity to shoot trespassers from Mexico. This border crossers are criminals and terrorists. If a stronger show of force was on display, drug smuggling, illegal immigration, gang support and their $ booty would be stopped in their tracks.

Screw the corrupt Mexican government and the liberal cry babies too.

I suppose we are going to have to wait until the USA dissolves or a couple of dirty bombs find the way to D.C., or NYC.

DaOne does not believe there should be a southern border. The CFR’s North American Union is the reason for allowing so many illegal aliens into these United States, on to the government sugar tit, driving drunk and murdering people, raping, costing tax payer monies for courts, jails, and lawyers, plus soemone is making a lot of money on the drugs.

It takes real courage to face down a man with a REAL WEAPON when you are carrying a beanbag launcher. These agents are brave men. I’m only guessing, of course, that their supervisors and the men who wrote this assinine policy were raised in front of the TV watching Sesame Street.

Still, I have to just shake my head in honest wonder…….BEAN BAGS? FREAKING BEAN BAGS?? Where can i send some 00-Buckshot so these good men are truly armed?

A US patriot is given beanbags to shoot at Mexicans waging war on America. American patriots are assaulted and called “racist” by politicians and media for standing up for America and opposing the tsunami of illegals storming our country. Even PJM employs a lying POS named Reuben Navarette who serially slanders opponents of illegal assault on our nation calling them “racist” and ” bigot”. Intellectuals, politicians, and academics sneer at the prospect of the “browning of America”, and look forward with glee to the day when whites are outnumbered by minorities. Our treasonous political class bribes Mexican illegals for their votes, giving them over a $billion in LA county alone (where I live) for free medical services, free lawyers to defend them when they commit crimes, free housing and free counseling and job placement. This while a US citizen, and a mother, a black woman, is arrested and jailed for sending her kid to a better school across town… Illegals are given in-state tuition, subsidized by legal tax payers. They are given special pleading and set-asides through affirmative action so they can attend college, while legal citizens, especially whites and asians, who pay most of the tax bills in America, are turned away in droves so they cannot attend. If they do attend, as legal citizens, they are not entitled to most of the scholarships and set-asides which less deserving students receive as a matter of course. These citizens are ripped off thrice, once by being forced to pay the taxes which subsidize the undeserving and the illegals, twice by habpving their rights forcibly taken away, and a third time by being required to pay throu the nose if they’re lucky enough to get into school in the first place. It is tantamount to rape of the civilization, and plundering of our nation’s rightful, righteous inhabitants.

To say the situation has become and obscenity is no exaggeration. This is a situation which, if left unaddressed, will eventually warrant action by the righteous citizens of America to take back their county and their civilization from the parasites, traitors, and scum who now are infesting it and destroying it. I don’t think that time is far off if things do not change soon. The system as it now stands is tranical and unjust. “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands that connected them with another…” this is not some stale, defunct notion. It is as alive today as it was more than two hundred years ago.

Increasingly I no longer feel connected to the leftist, socialist, anti-American scum running this nation into the ground. I no longer feel connected to the politicians on both sides who curry favor with the tsunami of illegals storming our border. I no longer feel connected to the media, and the academics, and the pols who side with our enemies, give them rights while depriving us of ours, and prevent our military and our police from enforcing our laws, defending our borders, supporting our culture, and preserving our economy from assault. The betrayal by these arrogant elites is forcing war upon the true citizens of this land…

MD IMO is spot on concerning Navarette. I cannot and will not financially support PJM when they don’t have the stones to cut their losses with that lying creep. For whatever reason they decided to take him on, its been downhill every since.

I also am in full agreement regarding Navarrette. If he were providing some type of intelligent counterpoint for the sake of logical discourse, that would be one thing. But instead, his scribblings are filled with nothing but distortions, ad hominems, non sequiturs, and overgeneralizations. He adds nothing to the debate, and should be dropped from PGM as of yesterday.

Beanbag shotguns on patrol in the wastelands? Why would anyone ever think THAT would work? It’s the ultimate in feel-good, politically correct, showing the flag but not being effective border enforcement brought to us by the brand new USA-lite.

How these laughing-stock higher-ups in federal law enforcement can look themselves in the mirror after this is beyond me. And it goes to the very top. Empty suits making life and death decisions for “others”, but not themselves.

I can visualize the decision-making process.

OK, we have to put troops out there so it looks like we’re doing something.
Yes, but we need to make it so they don’t do very muchOK, we won’t let them go very close to the line – make ‘em stay at least a mile away.
Yes, and only let them go out at night. That way the day walkers will get through.OK, but the ones out at night shouldn’t have real guns, either.
That’s it. We’ll make them use riot control bean bags guns out in the gullies.And only give them two bags per patrol shift.
Sure. None of them will be foolish enough to confront armed desparados if they’re armed that lightly, anyway. Their sense of self-preservation will kick in and accomplish the same goal we’re looking for.Yeah, what could go wrong?

Yes, we need to know who in Border Patrol mandated beanbags be used, that person needs some serious hospital time.

We also need name of ATF person authorizing operation “GunRunner”. I’ve read several articles on this, all with a pretty similar position, but as yet I’m not seeing names of decision makers. We need the names to make them ‘unemployed’ and ‘unemployable’.

When responsible for the ‘lives of others’ and you do idiotic crap like this, it’s time to stop breathing!

The real story here is, of course, the ATF’s ‘Gun Walker’ show that has been tackled by many ‘right-wing, militia, extremist, Nazi-wannabe —–’ websites for weeks. The ICE officer was most probably the second victim of the US Government’s brilliant operation to smuggle thousands of AKs to Mexico.

Unless and until there are sufficient numbers of Congressmen (sick of PC here~~they’re all Congressmen) who are willing to draw up Articles of Impeachment, we are completely sold down the river. We all know what he is made of by now. Now we’re going to find out what we’re made of. God help us.

People! Wise up! Drugs, drugs, drugs! You ain’t never going to understand this nation’s border policy until you make the connection between the drugs and who is making money off them on this side and it ain’t just the smugglers. Think about political campaigns and money laundering.

I’m thinking a more appropriate arm would something on the order of a 44 mag as a sidearm and a BAR in 30-06 as a long arm. When someone shoots at you with a real gun you need real guns for proper response. The poor widow should get a huge settlement from suing the perpetrator of this insane policy. Unfortunately that person cannot be sued for performing his job ineptly since he or she is a federal bureaucrat.

I don’t know the exact circumstances of what went down on for the Terry killing, but I also do not believe all of the alleged things in the media reports, either. First, while Terry may have been armed with a bean bag launcher, he most certainly was also armed with a pistol side arm as well.

Apparently, he as a point man on a highly trained squad, and it was likely he was one of the first to fire after identifying himself. His likely muzzle blast and the sound of it also very likely identified his position for which the killer could train the AK-47. The one round that killed him likely hit him in a vital organ, and he bled out quickly.

I do not know whether he or others in his team had prior knowledge of this particular group or whether they were known to carry long arms prior to the encounter. Given that the area was notorious, however, I would not have taken a bean bag launcher, I would have taken an M-4. It is not clear at all whether someone ordered Terry to use a bean bag launcher instead of an M-4, as the media suggest.

Peck canyon already has rip groups working in the area again. The fact that the ATF had allowed the sale and transport of these weapons to Mexican cartel members is beyond inexcusable, however, and heads need to roll for even contemplating this.

This shows how far the communists will go to preserve their voting base. At least they still fear losing their power in the USA. If they didn’t our border agents would be an army designed for keeping our citizens IN the country and the fence would be impassable, don’t you know?

25-30 years of Phil Donahue, Oprah, ‘The View’, and,…the list is endless, has left America scared to death to ‘p*ss off’, anyone around the world. When in reality, we’ve been turned into geldings, surrounded by wolves.

One can only come to the conclusion that sending out our agents armed with beanbags was an unforgivable policy implemented to facilitate the murder of our agents. All those responsible have innocent blood on their hands.

Why no articles in PJM on the 1000s of assault weapons sent into Mexico by the ATF. The program was revealed, to the public, by dissident ATF agents. The ATF claimed this was a sting operation that would result in bringing down the cartels. That is a lie. This operation was designed to make it appear that U.S. Southwestern gun dealers were the major weapons suppliers to the cartels. This, as a means to fabricate evidence that would be used to try and reinstate the assault rifle ban.
This kind of an operation could not take place without the approval of the highest levels of the Justice Department, and probably the President.
This was/is a corrupt attempt to create a crisis, that could be taken advantage of, to push a political agenda.

Considering the ramped-up leftist tactics we’ve been seeing for two years, I don’t doubt that kja is correct. Everything we see is part of the 180 degree government we now suffer under, top down instead of bottom up. We must crush all statism, and control our employees or we’re broke and dead.

To make this situation even more disturbing an ATF agent is a whistleblower now. He said that Obama, Holder, and the ATF have been providing the drug cartels in Mexico the weapons, calling it a sting. It makes them accessories to murder, calling it something different is to give the illusion of doing something lawful. They are using the government to cover up their crimes. By the way, it was one of these weapons that killed Brian Terry. Please watch this video. This should be on the front page of every newspaper and the blogs. So far I haven’t seen it.
Whistleblower ATF Agent John Dodson Exposes Deadly Operation “Fast and Furious”http://youtu.be/SvRzrSXota8

I have to mute the volume when I pull it up, it’s too disturbing to listen to. Senator Grassley said he has asked for paperwork to investigate but can’t get the information from the Obama regime.